European EV Sales Grew 147% In 2020
The shift to EV is starting to take shape
2020 was a tough year for the whole automotive industry but these sales data amassed by JATO Dynamics show that despite the economic crisis caused by the pandemic, the previous year wasn’t all doom and gloom for the industry.
Based on the data from 23 European markets, the volume of pure electric and plug-in hybrid cars (EVs) in the Old Continent more than doubled in 2020 compared to 2019, with an astonishing growth of 147% from 575,000 to 1.42 million units sold. The figure accounted for 12% of all new passenger cars registered throughout 2020.
Bear in mind that JATO has updated their definition of ‘electrified vehicles’, which now include pure electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrids (PHEV). Hybrids (HEV) and mild-hybrids (mHEV) have been excluded and both fall into the internal combustion engine (ICE) category as they are primarily fuelled by either petrol, diesel or alcohol.
Volkswagen Group was the main driving force behind the rise of electric vehicles in Europe, with 1 in 4 BEVs sold were from the German automotive giant. But this is hardly unexpected given that the group has a wide-ranging EV lineup that includes the likes of the Porsche Taycan, Audi E-Tron, and Seat Mii/Volkswagen Up/Skoda Citigo.
What’s really surprising is that the Renault Zoe emerged as the best selling BEV in Europe with a 99,261 units sold, up 118% from 2019. Not only the Tesla Model 3 was knocked off its perch by the French supermini, its sales also suffered a 9% decline. The Volkswagen ID.3 got off to a great start with 56,118 units sold within a few months of entering the market.
Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz managed to overtake Mitsubishi as the best selling brand in the PHEV segment in Europe for 2020. This is largely due to the success of the PHEV A-Class, which outsold the long-time leader Outlander PHEV by nearly 3,000 units. The Volkswagen Passat GTE enjoyed a significant jump with an increase of 397% but still failed to outrival the highly-acclaimed Volvo XC40 Recharge.
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